Black hole found 47million light years away
A SUPERMASSIVE black hole has been detected powering one of the most stunning galaxies.
The vast abyss lies 47 million light years from Earth - shrouded by a ring of cosmic dust. Incredible jets of energy fuel the spectacular city of stars, called Messier 77. Known as a Type II Seyfert galaxy, it is particularly bright at infrared wavelengths.
The black hole, formed by the collapse of a giant star, is 15 million times bigger than our sun.
Its event horizon - from which not even light can escape - is 54 million miles across. The observations could help explain the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A.
An international team of astronomers used the Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Chile with a scanner removing stars in pics to show the surroundings.
Professor Walter Jaffe, from Leiden University in the Netherlands, said: "The images detail the changes in temperature and absorption of the dust clouds around the black hole."
Violeta Gamez Rosas, a PhD candidate at Leiden, added: "Our results could help us understand the history of the Milky Way, whose black hole at its centre may have been active in the past."